Integration of journal club ideology into a nanotechnology course

Nanotechnology is bound to dramatically impact how we use materials in all aspects of engineering. As a result it is in our best interest to educate undergraduate engineers about the basics and its potential. However, being a nascent interdisciplinary field with constantly evolving applications, nanotechnology typically poses a challenge for educators to keep the course current while providing enough exposure to the various research areas. An integration of journal club ideology to a traditional lecture-based course offers a powerful alternative, simultaneously focusing on nanoscience fundamentals and methods. Among its multitude of benefits, journal club integration offers students a unique responsibility to exercise their higher level learning skills, namely, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of knowledge. This paper discusses how the journal club ideology was incorporated into an Introduction to Nanotechnology course for senior undergraduate and graduate students. Key details of the journal club model adoption are included to prompt such an implementation for courses dealing with similar emerging fields. The integration resulted in a more engaging senior-level engineering course that was student-driven and enforced independent learning.